Expecting
by ProcrastinatingPalindrome
Summary: Life with Korra was always full of surprises, but learning that he was going to be a father still managed to catch Bolin off guard.


The roof leaked, when they first bought the house. The windows were drafty and the drains clogged easily. The backyard was full of weeds, the floors creaked and paint was peeling off the walls, but Bolin was sure he had never been happier. Korra must have been deliriously happy too; on the first night after they moved in, his lovely wife shoved him up against a wall with a devious gleam in her eye and insisted they celebrate. In the end she wore him out so much that he was late to work the following day, and Chief Beifong scolded him in front of the new recruits before making him do metal bending drills for a straight hour.

Bolin would have done it all over again in a heartbeat, all of it. They had reason to celebrate. For all its flaws, the house was _theirs**.**_ After years on the street and living off luck, the kindness of strangers and his brother, it felt wonderful to stand on his own two feet, with the most amazing woman in the world at his side, as they built their life together. He had everything he had ever wanted…well, almost everything. There was still a tiny, niggling sense of jealousy in his stomach when he looked at Mako and Asami with their daughter. He loved being her Uncle Bo, but still…still…

But that could wait. He was happy enough for now, and between work, Korra and their various home improvement projects, he had plenty to keep himself occupied. They had fixed up the house in the two years since they moved in, but there was always more work to do. The latest project was building a garden in the back yard.

Having a garden was important. One of his precious few memories of life before the streets was when he was four years old, sitting in his mother's garden and digging a hole in the dirt with his chubby hands while she planted sweet-smelling melon peppers. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had always wanted what his parents once had, that simple happiness and warmth. Adding a garden to their place just seemed appropriate, as part of following that path. Plus, with any luck, he could grow some tasty things for the two of them to eat (and Pabu too, of course,) and maybe some nice flowers to decorate the house. He had always been proud of his green thumb, even though there had been few opportunities to show off his skill with plants in the past.

His garden needed a nice border, and he had acquired a little pile of bricks for that very purpose. They sat next to the back door for a full week before the opportunity to use them presented itself in the form of a perfect, sunny Saturday. It was one of his few weekends off from patrol, and even Korra had no serious Avatar business to attend to. These were the kinds of days he lived for.

Life with Korra was never still, never boring. And that was exactly why he noticed when she was suspiciously reserved that morning. She had barely said a word over breakfast, and just stared intensely out the window when he finally got to work on moving the bricks outside.

After four years of marriage, Bolin had learned to read Korra's expressions fairly well. This wasn't her moody-upset-possibly-angry silence. This was her I-have-something-important-on-my-mind-but-I'm-not-ready-to-talk-about-it silence. At least he was pretty sure that's what it was. Of course, being able to identify her expression didn't necessarily mean he knew how to deal with it. Often the only thing to do when Korra went all quiet was to give her his best smile and a hug, and then just wait for her to be ready to talk. And that was exactly what he did.

He had been out in the yard for an hour, Pabu dozing in the sun at his side, when he heard the door creak open. He glanced toward the noise, a brick still in his hand as he paused in his work. Korra stood in the doorway, hair down and adorably tangled. She had a small, awkward grin on her face, and she kept nibbling at her lower lip. Something was up, that much was sure.

"Hey there, beautiful! Want to come join me?" Bolin said cheerfully, gesturing to the patch of grass beside him with the brick.

Korra took a deep breath, opened her mouth to say something, then stopped. She just stood there silently, smiling nervously.

"Korra?" He climbed to his feet, still holding the brick, frowning with concern. This wasn't like her at all. Something big must have happened. "Are you okay? Do you want to-"

Bolin loved Korra dearly, but he had to admit that she often had terrible timing with important things. It would have been nice if she had picked another time, preferable a time when he wasn't holding something heavy, to finally get up the nerve to blurt out, "Bo, I'm pregnant."

The brick slipped from his hands and landed square on his right big toe.

* * *

"Owowowow! Easy, that really smarts! Do you think it's broken?"

Korra rolled her eyes at him and continued healing his wounded toe with a glowing ball of water. "It's not broken, you wimp. It's just a bad bruise."

"Feels broken," he grumbled. To be fair, Korra's healing was working wonders. His toe still throbbed badly, but at least he could stand the pressure of the water against his skin now.

They had both lapsed into awkward silence again, once the conversation about Bolin's injured toe had dried up. Neither seemed willing to make the first comment about Korra's…new condition. Bolin swallowed and tried to pick his words. Korra had broken the news, so it was his turn to say something.

"So," he began slowly, "how did you…I mean…how are you so sure about…?"

"I can't explain," Korra said with a shrug. "I can just…feel it. I just know. It's one of those weird Avatar things."

Bolin nodded. Korra had 'weird Avatar things' all the time, premonitions and hunches that were right far more often than not. He had learned to trust them. His eyes dropped down to her stomach, still perfectly flat. His brain had locked up, unable to fully process the news yet. Korra caught him staring and gave him a breathless little laugh.

"So I did the math, and I think all this," she gestured vaguely at her abdomen, "happened the night of your birthday party."

"Oh. Oh! You mean…after we went to Narook's-"

"And you ate your weight in noodles-"

"And we both overdid it on the cactus juice-"

"Somehow we ended up in the park later-"

"Wandered off the path-"

"You said you were too hot and tried to jump in the lake-"

"And you tackled me to the ground-"

"And then we-"

"Behind the bushes-"

"We…yeah…"

They both lapsed into nervous giggles.

"That's gonna be a hell of a story to tell our kid one day," Korra chuckled, dropping her eyes back to her healing. "'You were conceived behind some bushes while your parents were goofy on cactus juice.'"

"Parents…" The word finally set the gears in Bolin's head moving again. His mouth fell open. "We…we're gonna be parents."

Korra looked back up and smiled widely, brilliantly. Maybe it was the glow of the water illuminating her face, but she had never looked more radiant. The sight made his breath catch and his eyes start to sting at the sheer, overwhelming happiness of the moment.

"We're gonna be _parents_!" he cried, and threw his arms around her. The ball of water fell from her hands and soaked into his pant leg, but he couldn't have cared less.


End file.
